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Debate on bill and Committee of the Whole House (HC) on Tuesday, 18 January 2011, in the House of Commons.

Fixed-term Parliaments Bill

Fixed-term Parliaments Bill. Report stage. New clauses debated and negatived on division. Amendments debated and negatived on division. Third reading agreed on division (320 to 234). Bill passed.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
521 c707-811 
Session
2010-12
Department
Cabinet Office
Legislative stage
Committee stage
Third reading
Report stage
Procedure
New clauses
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Fixed-term Parliaments Bill. As amended in Committee.
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Bills
House of Commons
Proceeding contributions
Peter Bottomley | 521 c796 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend was asked about clause 1(5) and the length of time between general elections, b...
Show all contributions (293)
Louise Mensch | 521 c797 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman intend to suggest that, by the Prime Minister giving up power and by m...
Lord Khan of Tooting | 521 c797 (Link to this contribution) That Bill is being discussed in the other place. It starts again at 3.30 tomorrow. The hon. Lady sh...
Nick Clegg | 521 c796-7 (Link to this contribution) I defer to my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley) on the theology of thos...
Lord Khan of Tooting | 521 c797 (Link to this contribution) Things are desperate when the Whips have to arrange things to get most of the Liberal parliamentary ...
Peter Bottomley | 521 c798 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. If the right hon. Gentleman had intended to take up the f...
David Heath | 521 c797 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Khan of Tooting | 521 c797-8 (Link to this contribution) No, I won't. Not to you. The Liberal Democrats' policy was for four-year fixed-term Parliaments, bu...
Lord Harper | 521 c799 (Link to this contribution) I was very keen to do something that the previous Government did not do often: I listened to the deb...
Speaker | 521 c798 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is very experienced and knows that that is not a point of order. It is entirely u...
Lord Khan of Tooting | 521 c798 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the hon. Gentleman to the debate and congratulate him on his recent honour. I want to be ...
Lord Beith | 521 c798 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is keen to ascribe motives that were not present in the decision to make it...
Lord Khan of Tooting | 521 c799 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman will accept that, like his party, we were in favour of fixed-term Parliamen...
Julian Huppert | 521 c799 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman remind the House how he voted on the Fixed Term Parliaments Bill intro...
Lord Khan of Tooting | 521 c799 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman should explain why he has changed his mind in relation to his predecessor's Bill....
Lord Harper | 521 c799 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Harper | 521 c799 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman knows, as I made clear at the time, that I announced that option in this Ho...
Lord Khan of Tooting | 521 c799 (Link to this contribution) I am happy for the hon. Gentleman to intervene again. Is it not right that a number of colleagues ha...
Speaker | 521 c802 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are grateful to the hon. Gentleman, but his intervention is getting rather long.
Lord Hart of Tenby | 521 c802 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is suggesting that fixing the term at five years automatically favours the Govern...
Lord Beith | 521 c802 (Link to this contribution) I do not understand the hon. Gentleman's argument. If the coalition's motive had simply been to post...
David Anderson | 521 c801 (Link to this contribution) My constituents cannot wait for the next general election.
Charles Walker | 521 c801 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the hon. Gentleman will be standing in his seat at the next general election and that th...
Lord Khan of Tooting | 521 c800 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes the point well. More recently, and more importantly for this House, our concer...
Charles Walker | 521 c800-1 (Link to this contribution) I have no rancour against the coalition. I think that it is doing some wonderful things: in deficit ...
Lord Khan of Tooting | 521 c800 (Link to this contribution) The problem is that an amendment was moved, hon. Members took part in the debate, and then the Minis...
Tristram Hunt | 521 c802 (Link to this contribution) Coalition Members really do not understand the difference between the norm and the maximum. We have ...
Andrew Percy | 521 c805-6 (Link to this contribution) I do not intend to detain the House too long. My hon. Friend the Member for Broxbourne (Mr Walker) m...
Mark Durkan | 521 c806-7 (Link to this contribution) Those of us who have been through all the stages of this Bill, including the Committee stage and the...
Tristram Hunt | 521 c802-3 (Link to this contribution) I take the hon. Gentleman's point, but the benefits of a fixed-term schedule outweigh those potentia...
Speaker | 521 c803 (Link to this contribution) Order. There are fewer than 14 minutes to go and four Members are seeking to catch my eye. Members c...
Lord Hart of Tenby | 521 c803-4 (Link to this contribution) I start by thanking the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) for early warnin...
Chris Bryant | 521 c785 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the tone in which the Minister is responding to this part of the debate. For his i...
Lord Harper | 521 c785 (Link to this contribution) I heard very clearly what the hon. Gentleman said in his intervention on the hon. Member for Rhondda...
Chris Bryant | 521 c786 (Link to this contribution) The Minister referred to elected police commissioners and more directly elected mayors. Will he conf...
Lord Harper | 521 c785-6 (Link to this contribution) I replied to a letter that the hon. Gentleman sent to me. He might find—I can absolutely get him a c...
Jim Shannon | 521 c786 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has said that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland will monitor what happens wit...
Lord Harper | 521 c786 (Link to this contribution) Not representing a valleys constituency, I do not have the same urge for tidiness as the hon. Gentle...
Jonathan Edwards | 521 c784 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman that four years seems to be the normal cycle. Does he agree that if ...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 521 c785 (Link to this contribution) The Electoral Commission's letter said that there was a"““need for a comprehensive research study on...
Lord Harper | 521 c784-5 (Link to this contribution) The amendments relate to the date of the election and it is worth touching on the points that a numb...
Lord Khan of Tooting | 521 c794 (Link to this contribution) Can the Deputy Prime Minister give us one example in which he or another leading member of the Liber...
Nick Clegg | 521 c793-4 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time. I am grateful to Members who have taken pa...
Lord Hart of Tenby | 521 c789 (Link to this contribution) I am much encouraged by the Minister's comments and I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. A...
Lord Harper | 521 c788-9 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman was hypothetically pessimistic earlier. Now he takes the opposite approach: he is...
Chris Bryant | 521 c788 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is right; that would be the eventuality. However, I think that would fly in the face of...
Lord Harper | 521 c787-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady makes a good point. When the Deputy Prime Minister and I introduced the Bill, we said ...
Naomi Long | 521 c787 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has talked about considering the context of the forthcoming Northern Ireland Assembly e...
Lord Harper | 521 c787 (Link to this contribution) I will not start picking bits out of individual letters, but, given our debates in the House about p...
Jonathan Edwards | 521 c786 (Link to this contribution) I understand that the Deputy First Minister in Wales would prefer a five-year cycle for the National...
Lord Harper | 521 c786 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I have discussed this with my right hon. Friend and he intends, as we have discussed in Committ...
Chris Bryant | 521 c795 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Deputy Prime Minister, who is being generous in giving way. Can he confirm that...
Nick Clegg | 521 c795 (Link to this contribution) I agree that in principle a clash of elections to the devolved Assemblies and to the House of Common...
Andrew Percy | 521 c796 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is entirely right that the judgment about how long a Parliament should last is ...
Nick Clegg | 521 c795-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has read the provisions of the Bill correctly, and I think that his point was con...
Nick Clegg | 521 c794 (Link to this contribution) As I said, the principle of a fixed-term Parliament was by far the most important thing. Whether tha...
Naomi Long | 521 c795 (Link to this contribution) Although I accept the argument that parliamentary and Assembly elections could have coincided anyway...
Nick Clegg | 521 c795 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure whether the hon. Lady was present for my hon. Friend the Minister's update to the Hous...
Austin Mitchell | 521 c794 (Link to this contribution) But the judgment of the Liberal party was that four years was the appropriate length of a Parliament...
Nick Clegg | 521 c794 (Link to this contribution) We were in favour of fixed-term Parliaments above and beyond all else, and always accepted that the ...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 521 c707 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 521 c710 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman imagine that the Government would be on such strong ground in trying to rail...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 521 c709 (Link to this contribution) Did the hon. Gentleman hear the severe criticism expressed by the Deputy Prime Minister at Deputy Pr...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 521 c709-10 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right to raise that issue. I did hear what the Deputy Prime Minister said abou...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c708 (Link to this contribution) I have listened quite attentively to the hon. Gentleman's quite interesting opening remarks. Will he...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 521 c708-9 (Link to this contribution) That is a very helpful intervention, and I thank the hon. Gentleman for it. I think the House of Lor...
Speaker | 521 c707 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss new clause 5—Expiry and revival of section 2—
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 521 c707-8 (Link to this contribution) May I begin by thanking the Minister for the enormous courtesy, good manners and good temper with wh...
William Cash | 521 c716 (Link to this contribution) That is a noble aspiration, but I am not at all convinced that that is how it is intended to operate...
Austin Mitchell | 521 c716 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman should not lack confidence about his ability to rally this House behind an import...
William Cash | 521 c716-8 (Link to this contribution) That is a perceptive way of putting it; I congratulate my hon. Friend on his perspicacity. I have g...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 521 c716 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend's new clause ensure that after the next election, the Prime Minister, instead of...
William Cash | 521 c715 (Link to this contribution) That does not surprise me very much. One thing that I objected to in clause 2 was the reference to ...
William Cash | 521 c716 (Link to this contribution) I do not deny for a minute that that is one of the consequences, but if we were to carry this new cl...
Bernard Jenkin | 521 c715-6 (Link to this contribution) I want to ask my hon. Friend a genuine question. Supposing there were a new Parliament and section 2...
William Cash | 521 c716 (Link to this contribution) Oh, I see. I am extremely grateful to hear what the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant), that fie...
Speaker | 521 c714 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am loth to interrupt the hon. Gentleman, to whom I look forward to listening, but just for ...
William Cash | 521 c714 (Link to this contribution) The simple reason why I am speaking to my amendment is that, as I indicated on Second Reading, I tak...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c713-4 (Link to this contribution) I will keep my remarks suitably brief. I was fascinated by the introductory remarks of the hon. Memb...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 521 c712-3 (Link to this contribution) I am enormously grateful to my hon. Friend for putting pithily in one intervention what it has taken...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c715 (Link to this contribution) On a point of clarification, I think it is fair to say that Opposition Members do not believe that t...
William Cash | 521 c714-5 (Link to this contribution) Yes, indeed. I am seeking to amend the Bill through a new clause, and I am grateful to you for makin...
Bernard Jenkin | 521 c712 (Link to this contribution) It seems to me that what my hon. Friend is very ably saying is that the Government cannot have it bo...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 521 c712 (Link to this contribution) I think that I am defending just as much the interests of the socialists of Great Grimsby and other ...
Austin Mitchell | 521 c712 (Link to this contribution) Is not the hon. Gentleman's panegyric on the House of Lords, and its great ability to defend our con...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 521 c710-2 (Link to this contribution) The reform of the other place will be a matter of great interest, although it is worth bearing in mi...
William Cash | 521 c721 (Link to this contribution) I have been increasingly impressed over the months by the manner in which the hon. Gentleman has tac...
Chris Bryant | 521 c719-21 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that that is right because, for example, there were no women in this House or in the o...
Bernard Jenkin | 521 c719 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman rightly points out that someone just like my hon. Friend the Member for North Eas...
Chris Bryant | 521 c719 (Link to this contribution) I warmly congratulate the hon. Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg) on his amendment and...
Chris Bryant | 521 c722 (Link to this contribution) Yes, although as the hon. Member for North East Somerset said at the very beginning of his speech, a...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c722 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree with my assessment of the Parliament Act that the purpose of stipulating t...
Chris Bryant | 521 c721 (Link to this contribution) I am always a bit reluctant to presume what the House of Lords' final view might be, not least becau...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 521 c718 (Link to this contribution) Just for clarification, is the hon. Gentleman referring to the recommended length of a parliamentary...
William Cash | 521 c718-9 (Link to this contribution) I can only repeat what that Committee has said: it states that the appropriate length of a fixed par...
William Cash | 521 c718 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman corrects me by saying that it is proper scrutiny. The Committee stated:"““Whilst...
Chris Bryant | 521 c723-4 (Link to this contribution) I was thinking of jiggery-pokery. Section 2 is being proceeded with not on the basis of consensus ac...
Bernard Jenkin | 521 c724 (Link to this contribution) As one of the few Members of the House that has actually sailed through the straits of Messina in a ...
William Cash | 521 c724-5 (Link to this contribution) We are, in fact, moving into very difficult and choppy waters. With respect to my hon. Friend the Me...
Bernard Jenkin | 521 c724 (Link to this contribution) I survived, but I have to say that it is a very disappointing whirlpool, but that is no reflection o...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 521 c722 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely understand the hon. Gentleman's point that a Government elected on a manifesto for four...
Chris Bryant | 521 c722-3 (Link to this contribution) My general approach is that we should always seek to take decisions ourselves, rather than leave the...
Speaker | 521 c723 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are now going to the end of my knowledge, and I think it would be very useful if we return...
Chris Bryant | 521 c723 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, Mr Deputy Speaker, although I am not sure that we really have got to the edge of your knowle...
Bernard Jenkin | 521 c727-8 (Link to this contribution) I put it to my hon. Friend that that wording in 1911 may well have been sufficient because it would ...
William Cash | 521 c727 (Link to this contribution) On that very question, does my hon. Friend recall that the 1911 Act goes further? It does not end by...
Chris Bryant | 521 c728 (Link to this contribution) I hoped that my words supported the very argument that the hon. Gentleman is making. I would, in add...
Richard Shepherd | 521 c728-9 (Link to this contribution) I am always encouraged when a political opponent, in the sense of someone from the other side of the...
Bernard Jenkin | 521 c725-6 (Link to this contribution) That was the purpose of my referring to Lord Phillips's recent obiter dicta, in which he implied tha...
Chris Bryant | 521 c726 (Link to this contribution) I am looking at the hon. Gentleman quizzically, because, under the existing arrangements, there have...
Bernard Jenkin | 521 c726 (Link to this contribution) Privately, I can confide to the House that I always thought that that proposition was a bit daft—it ...
Chris Bryant | 521 c726-7 (Link to this contribution) I am slightly flummoxed by the hon. Gentleman's charming naivety about what might have happened afte...
Bernard Jenkin | 521 c727 (Link to this contribution) Inevitably, these debates always depend on speculation about what might happen, which is the one rat...
Lord Harper | 521 c731 (Link to this contribution) No. It is very clear in the Bill. I do not think that the issue arose in Committee. The hon. Member...
Lord Harper | 521 c731 (Link to this contribution) Yes. The Bill sets out a five-year term, and in an emergency it would be possible for the Prime Mini...
Chris Bryant | 521 c731 (Link to this contribution) I presume that the Minister is therefore confirming that the Bill does lengthen a Parliament.
Thomas Docherty | 521 c729 (Link to this contribution) In that case, perhaps the hon. Gentleman could explain why Her Majesty was able to dismiss the Gover...
Richard Shepherd | 521 c729-30 (Link to this contribution) The constitutional arrangements of Australia are a matter of written statute there, and I understand...
Speaker | 521 c730 (Link to this contribution) That is most certainly not a point of order for me. I am sure that there are other ways in which the...
Lord Harper | 521 c730-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful, Mr Deputy Speaker. I think that I drew a distinction between certain Members of the o...
Lord Harper | 521 c730 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg) for his generous opening...
Andrew Turner | 521 c730 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Is it in order for the Deputy Prime Minister to have abused ...
Speaker | 521 c733 (Link to this contribution) Order. If you wish to press your new clause, Mr Cash, you will have an opportunity to do so later, a...
Chris Bryant | 521 c733 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Lord Harper | 521 c732 (Link to this contribution) Exactly; it is a very cunning new clause. My hon. Friend the Member for Stone put his finger on the ...
Chris Bryant | 521 c732 (Link to this contribution) Many of us believe that the Prime Minister has that power even under the Bill, because all he has to...
Lord Harper | 521 c732-3 (Link to this contribution) No; the Government's intention is to change the system so that there are fixed-term Parliaments, apa...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 521 c733 (Link to this contribution) I beg to ask leave to withdraw the clause. Clause, by leave, withdrawn.
William Cash | 521 c731 (Link to this contribution) I strongly resent the idea that new clause 5 is a wrecking amendment; it stands on its own merits, a...
Bernard Jenkin | 521 c732 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Is it not the case that if there was an attempt to table a w...
Speaker | 521 c732 (Link to this contribution) All I can say is that all the amendments and new clauses have been chosen in the right and proper wa...
Chris Bryant | 521 c737 (Link to this contribution) The Deputy Leader of the House has made a fair point. However, because we are now putting in statute...
Chris Bryant | 521 c737 (Link to this contribution) I was referring to the use of Prorogation at the end of a parliamentary Session. I believe that that...
David Heath | 521 c737 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is exploring an interesting argument, but there is currently nothing to prevent a...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c736 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is articulating a coherent case. Does he agree that if we have a new electoral system...
Chris Bryant | 521 c736 (Link to this contribution) I detect a bit of a difference of view between my hon. Friend and myself here. I hate to say this, b...
Speaker | 521 c733-4 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: Amendment 14, page 2, line 5, clause 2, a...
Chris Bryant | 521 c734-6 (Link to this contribution) I wish to speak to new clause 4 and some of the other amendments in the group, which stand in the na...
Speaker | 521 c741 (Link to this contribution) I think we all know that that is not a point of order.
Chris Bryant | 521 c738-9 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has predicted almost exactly what I was about to say. The 40th Canadian Parliamen...
Mark Reckless | 521 c737 (Link to this contribution) That is very kind. I believe that there is a recent precedent in Canada, whose Parliament—if I unde...
Chris Bryant | 521 c739-41 (Link to this contribution) I do not think they are very happy. I also think that the Prime Minister may have needed to gather h...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c739 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the fact that the Conservatives have had to resort to drink has nothing to do with la...
Nick Boles | 521 c741 (Link to this contribution) Anybody who knows me knows that my appreciation of a glass of reasonably priced white wine is second...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c741 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. The hon. Gentleman seems to be claiming that the Prime Minis...
Nick Boles | 521 c741 (Link to this contribution) The shadow Minister asks whether my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is charging for the drinks ...
Chris Bryant | 521 c737 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the hon. Gentleman.
Nick Boles | 521 c742-3 (Link to this contribution) I withdraw that comment, Mr Deputy Speaker, which was almost certainly unparliamentary and banned by...
Nick Boles | 521 c742 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I was in danger of being wholly distracted from my point, which is tha...
Speaker | 521 c742 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are straying from the subject of new clause 4. The price of drinks in Downing street has n...
Nick Boles | 521 c744 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend puts it far more succinctly and better than I could. The key point is that there is n...
Daniel Byles | 521 c744 (Link to this contribution) Is not the very purpose behind the Bill and the cooling-off period after a vote of no confidence pre...
Kelvin Hopkins | 521 c743 (Link to this contribution) I apologise for not being here earlier in the debate, but I am seriously concerned about what the ho...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c741 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Nick Boles | 521 c741 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to stray from the subject of the new clauses and the amendments, but I should point ou...
Daniel Byles | 521 c745 (Link to this contribution) It is a slightly odd idea that we could have a vote of no confidence and that somebody from the gove...
Nick Boles | 521 c744 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman, who has thought about this for longer, more deeply and in a more researc...
Nick Boles | 521 c745 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. There were moments in the previous Parliament when we all might have wished...
Chris Bryant | 521 c744 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is completely wrong, I am afraid, much as I like him—
Chris Bryant | 521 c744 (Link to this contribution) Both of you. I am quite happy to like anybody. The hon. Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c744 (Link to this contribution) ““Erskine May”” is quite clear about the fact that if Parliament is prorogued, all the Bills before ...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 521 c744 (Link to this contribution) Would that not be crucial? A new Prime Minister from another party would want all the Bills of the o...
Nick Boles | 521 c744 (Link to this contribution) Of course I accept that, but it is not really what we are referring to. We are referring to non-legi...
Nick Boles | 521 c747 (Link to this contribution) The question that has been asked does not relate to the clause or the amendments and I defer always ...
Charles Walker | 521 c747 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend briefly explain why he feels that the change of a Prime Minister should trigger ...
Nick Boles | 521 c746-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is cunning, as ever. Unfortunately, in almost all his interventions in this debat...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c746 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has referred repeatedly to the will of the people, but at no point did his party ...
Nick Boles | 521 c746 (Link to this contribution) If I may, I would like to at least develop the argument enough for the hon. Gentleman to be able to ...
Nick Boles | 521 c746 (Link to this contribution) Although I defer hugely to the hon. Gentleman's greater understanding, he betrays a lack of a feel f...
Chris Bryant | 521 c745-6 (Link to this contribution) Prime Ministers are by definition ambitious, I think—that was otiose. No. The Prime Minister, to all...
Nick Boles | 521 c745 (Link to this contribution) I have a sense that we will probably not persuade the hon. Gentleman here and now, although I have e...
Chris Bryant | 521 c745 (Link to this contribution) Much as I like the other hon. Gentleman, whose name I do not know—[Laughter.] No, I do, but he was c...
Chris Bryant | 521 c748-9 (Link to this contribution) Well, the hon. Gentleman should not, because if we extended the 17 days to 25, there would be less n...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 521 c749 (Link to this contribution) Is it not in the nature of these issues that parliamentarians will take the opportunity, when a rele...
Nick Boles | 521 c749 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure I understood that point, so, in a traditional Tory way, I am going to reject it becaus...
Charles Walker | 521 c752 (Link to this contribution) If we support the notion of a fixed-term Parliament, which I do not, surely we have to accept that r...
Mark Durkan | 521 c752 (Link to this contribution) That sums up my view on royal weddings, but that is my own prejudice. Another argument that has bee...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 521 c752 (Link to this contribution) I am following the hon. Gentleman's argument. I am a supporter of the Bill in principle, but having ...
Nick Boles | 521 c749-50 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Gentleman and I agree with him. If we are to have, as I hope we will, electio...
Chris Bryant | 521 c750 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is wrong, because one major reason why we might want a slightly longer period is ...
Nick Boles | 521 c750 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is being a trifle unkind because he knew I was being a little light-hearted and f...
Mark Durkan | 521 c750-2 (Link to this contribution) My childhood, unlike that of the hon. Member for Grantham and Stamford (Nick Boles), was not peppere...
Nick Boles | 521 c747 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, from the bottom of my heart. As I hear in the distance the light pop ...
Speaker | 521 c747 (Link to this contribution) I think we will stick with new clause 4.
Nick Boles | 521 c748 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to my hon. Friend—may I call him that? I feel as though we are friends even thoug...
Kelvin Hopkins | 521 c748 (Link to this contribution) I am listening with interest to the hon. Gentleman, but I would be more convinced by his argument if...
Nick Boles | 521 c748 (Link to this contribution) I detect from the hon. Gentleman's expression and demeanour that he is worried, but he should not be...
Charles Walker | 521 c747 (Link to this contribution) Is not my hon. Friend making a good argument for retaining the current system and doing away with th...
Nick Boles | 521 c747-8 (Link to this contribution) That is an even more ingenious attempt, Mr Deputy Speaker, because it is harder for me to appeal to ...
Charles Walker | 521 c755 (Link to this contribution) Surely any legislation could be avoided if Prime Ministers were to say at the start of their term wh...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c755 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Daniel Byles | 521 c755 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a truly innovative suggestion.
Thomas Docherty | 521 c755 (Link to this contribution) At the risk of rushing to the hon. Gentleman's rescue, I suspect that Labour Members tried that appr...
Daniel Byles | 521 c755 (Link to this contribution) I shall be delighted to find out whether the hon. Gentleman can answer the point raised by my hon. F...
Daniel Byles | 521 c755 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his clever and well-reasoned argument.
Ian Lucas | 521 c755 (Link to this contribution) Returning to the question of party political advantage, why does the hon. Gentleman think that the G...
Daniel Byles | 521 c755-6 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that the hon. Gentleman raises that question, because I would like to address that is...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 521 c756 (Link to this contribution) May I remind my hon. Friend that the reduction from seven to five years took place because the House...
Daniel Byles | 521 c756 (Link to this contribution) As ever, I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend for his point. He and I believe that the wisdom o...
Daniel Byles | 521 c753-4 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for alluding to an argument that I have heard time and again, when p...
Charles Walker | 521 c753 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend not agree that we have had a fairly settled democracy for the past 350 years? So...
Mark Durkan | 521 c752-3 (Link to this contribution) I take the right hon. Gentleman's point, but let us remember that the Speaker can issue two types of...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 521 c754 (Link to this contribution) The Bill still seems to allow the Executive to do that, because they can force a vote of no confiden...
Daniel Byles | 521 c754 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for my hon. Friend's typically pithy and interesting contribution. The point has been ...
Chris Bryant | 521 c754 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but Members of the Assemblée Nationale are elected for terms of up to five years, not fi...
Daniel Byles | 521 c754 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for correcting me. That was not my understanding, but I will bow...
Kelvin Hopkins | 521 c754-5 (Link to this contribution) When I first heard the suggestion, I thought that the electorate might consider that such a Governme...
Daniel Byles | 521 c755 (Link to this contribution) I will have to agree to disagree with hon. Members about this, but I do not think that a Government ...
Charles Walker | 521 c760 (Link to this contribution) Is there not a danger that at times we in this place give the impression of having the clear thinkin...
Daniel Byles | 521 c760 (Link to this contribution) I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend for his intervention. Again he demonstrates why it is so i...
Daniel Byles | 521 c760 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention.
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 521 c760 (Link to this contribution) It may interest the House to know that in the 1830s King William IV was going to come in person to p...
Daniel Byles | 521 c759 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I apologise. [Interruption.]
Speaker | 521 c759 (Link to this contribution) Order. I say to those on the two Front Benches, can we please continue?
Daniel Byles | 521 c759-60 (Link to this contribution) Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. I shall move on to new clause 4, which sets out new rules f...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c763 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a perfectly sensible point, although I always caution hon. Members not to e...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c762-3 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is a thoroughly reasonable individual and I am sure he will not hold that statement aga...
Stephen Williams | 521 c763 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman accept that such anomalies already exist and have existed for a long time? I...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c762 (Link to this contribution) I do not like to leave the House in suspense, but on this one occasion hon. Members will have to wai...
Kelvin Hopkins | 521 c762 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is being very generous to the Government. Even if they accepted the amendments, I wou...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c761-2 (Link to this contribution) I shall keep my remarks brief as I understand that the Prime Minister might be rushing back to make ...
Charles Walker | 521 c762 (Link to this contribution) As a matter of interest, how will the hon. Gentleman vote on Third Reading tonight?
Chris Bryant | 521 c760 (Link to this contribution) But in 1831 the row about Dissolution and Prorogation, which was all about the proposed Great Reform...
Daniel Byles | 521 c760-1 (Link to this contribution) I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman for joining our discussion of the history pertaining t...
Daniel Byles | 521 c760 (Link to this contribution) It pains me wholeheartedly to agree with my hon. Friend that that is absolutely the case.
Daniel Byles | 521 c756-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting argument, because he seems to suggest that any Government of...
Kelvin Hopkins | 521 c756 (Link to this contribution) Is not the great advantage of our present system that if a Government do not get a particularly big ...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 521 c757 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman saying that the Bill was born out of real conviction, and has nothing to do wi...
Charles Walker | 521 c756 (Link to this contribution) If my hon. Friend believes that the wisdom of our forefathers should not be easily dismissed, why is...
Daniel Byles | 521 c756 (Link to this contribution) I do not understand my hon. Friend's point at all. Our forefathers decided that five years was a rea...
Chris Bryant | 521 c756 (Link to this contribution) But when our forefathers reached that view, they pointed out that although the maximum length of a P...
Daniel Byles | 521 c756 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has advanced that argument before, but I am aware that another interpretation is ...
Damian Collins | 521 c756 (Link to this contribution) As the House knows, three of the past five Parliaments have run for five years, so it is not unreaso...
Daniel Byles | 521 c756 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a valid point. The hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) likes to cite a figu...
Speaker | 521 c759 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman should be relating his remarks to new clause 4 and the amendments grouped ...
Daniel Byles | 521 c758-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have almost come to the end of my scene-setting remarks a...
Speaker | 521 c758 (Link to this contribution) First, it is for me to decide whether a Member is straying out of line. I would say to Mr Byles that...
Daniel Byles | 521 c757 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman is arguing that Parliaments that last for five years are more likely to end wi...
John Hemming | 521 c757-8 (Link to this contribution) Obviously there is a debate about whether the figure should be four years or five—although nobody ha...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c757 (Link to this contribution) I am fascinated by the hon. Gentleman's logic, but does he accept that, with the exception of the Pa...
Daniel Byles | 521 c758 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his intervention. I am extremely concerned about that point, and...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c758 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. My understanding of the procedures of the House is that Memb...
Daniel Byles | 521 c758 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with my hon. Friend's comments. One problem sometimes cited in relation to a democr...
Charles Walker | 521 c758 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend not concerned about the prorogation of Parliament? Will he address that matter whe...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c763-4 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a completely sensible point that goes to the heart of some of our arguments...
Charles Walker | 521 c763 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman not think that that is a perfectly healthy thing to happen? We do not elect ...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c764-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman highlights a crucial element, and as my hon. Friend the Member for Foyle mentione...
Damian Collins | 521 c764 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is referring to the vote that followed the Norway debate, which the then Governme...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c765 (Link to this contribution) For the benefit of the Deputy Leader of the House and of the Official Report, my point was that my h...
David Heath | 521 c765 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that the House has had as elegant and extensive a debate on Prorogation since the leg...
Thomas Docherty | 521 c768 (Link to this contribution) I have listened attentively to the Minister's remarks. Notwithstanding his reluctance to support our...
David Heath | 521 c765-8 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to the hon. Gentleman for restoring my faith in his credentials, although he has ...
Mark Durkan | 521 c769-70 (Link to this contribution) Amendment 14 would make it optional, not obligatory, that a date be specified. If the House votes a ...
David Heath | 521 c768-9 (Link to this contribution) I would do so, but that would impinge on the following group of amendments, and the Parliamentary Se...
Lord Hart of Tenby | 521 c781 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 1, page 1, line 5, at end insert"'save as provided for by subsection (2A) be...
Chris Bryant | 521 c771-2 (Link to this contribution) I note that the Prime Minister's drinks party has clearly ended, because the whole Conservative part...
David Heath | 521 c770-1 (Link to this contribution) I do not dismiss the hon. Gentleman's arguments. I understand what he is saying. However, in purely ...
Naomi Long | 521 c783 (Link to this contribution) It is not just that it is a burden on the electorate to ask them to come out and vote twice in a sho...
Chris Bryant | 521 c782-3 (Link to this contribution) It is a great delight to see the hon. Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire (Simon Hart...
Lord Hart of Tenby | 521 c781-2 (Link to this contribution) Amendment 1 was tabled by the hon. Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen), the Chairman of the Polit...
Speaker | 521 c781 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: Amendment 10, page 1, line 8, at end inse...
Chris Bryant | 521 c784 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I am aware of that and I completely agree with the thrust of what the hon. Gentleman is saying....
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 521 c784 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the Electoral Commission has written to the Deputy Prime Minister o...
Chris Bryant | 521 c783 (Link to this contribution) I think that is absolutely right, and I fear that the likely outcome of that is that most people wil...
Nick Clegg | 521 c796 (Link to this contribution) As I said before, that is the existing maximum and has been for a very long time. It has recently be...
Mark Tami | 521 c800 (Link to this contribution) Surely the point is that the Minister knew that information at the start of the debate, but he chose...
Austin Mitchell | 521 c804-5 (Link to this contribution) It was interesting to hear the Deputy Prime Minister present as a great constitutional innovation wh...
Chris Bryant | 521 c784 (Link to this contribution) I suppose it would, but I am not in favour of five-year terms. Political events change at a dramatic...
Sheila Gilmore | 521 c794-5 (Link to this contribution) One of the consequences of the decision to have a five-year term in the first instance will be the c...
Richard Shepherd | 521 c728 (Link to this contribution) I support the new clause tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Mr Cash), but I shall talk a...
Speaker | 521 c736 (Link to this contribution) Order. It is my job to cite that authority, not the job of the hon. Member.
Chris Bryant | 521 c737 (Link to this contribution) I am just trying to help you out, Mr Deputy Speaker. You did say earlier that you were at the edge o...
Nick Boles | 521 c743-4 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman also makes a strong argument and has much greater historical knowledge than I do....
Daniel Byles | 521 c753 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this important discussion. The entire issue of fi...
Daniel Byles | 521 c760 (Link to this contribution) I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend for his intervention. That is exactly the point that I wou...
Charles Walker | 521 c760 (Link to this contribution) A lot of Labour Members are muttering at the history lesson that my hon. Friend is giving us, but is...
Daniel Byles | 521 c757 (Link to this contribution) I genuinely do not believe that that is the reason. My hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hy...
Tristram Hunt | 521 c801-2 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful that we have been allowed to discuss the Bill. Today's debate has been awash with the ...
Daniel Byles | 521 c748 (Link to this contribution) The House has faced a big problem with fundraising and the increasing cost of democracy. Would not l...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 521 c748 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman should not be afraid to mention God. A moment ago, he was going to...
Chris Bryant | 521 c760 (Link to this contribution) I agree that historical precedent is important, but I think the last time the monarch was involved d...
Subjects
Administration General elections Fixed-term parliaments Dissolution Censure motions Prorogation Sunset clauses
Legislation
Fixed-term Parliaments Bill 2010-12
Parliament Act 1911
Link
View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk